1. Sustainability challenges
Turkmenistan is a rich country in oil and gas resources with the population over 5 million inhabitants. Despite the energy sector driven economy, it is largely an agricultural country with the rural population share accounting to 58 percent (FAO statistics). Agriculturally Turkmenistan is a pastoral country with 38 million hectares of desert pastures (96 percent of agricultural land).
In contrast to other Central Asian republics, the agricultural sector is largely managed by the state and there is little decentralization of power to the local level.
In the 1990s, state and collective farms were transformed into association of leaseholders k nown as farmers’ associations ( daihan birlishik) , which are the successor institutions to state farms and are the dominant structures under which agriculture is organized in Turkmenistan.
Some of these associations still own substantial numbers of state livestock, which are managed by members on a leasehold basis. Other farmers’ associations now own few livestock and concentrate on arable farming, renting irrigated land rather than livestock to their members. In
2013, sixtyseven farmer’s associations were transferred to the jurisdiction of The State
Association for Livestock Breeding ( Dowlet Maldarcylyk Birlesigi) , which runs them directly
(Government of Turkmenistan, 2013). According to national statistics, around 90% of all livestock are privately owned . Yet farmers’ associations and livestock farms together hold over
75% of the country’s 38 million hectares of pasture lands (State Committee of Statistics of
Turkmenistan, 2014), which are allocated for the use of these entities for an indefinite period.
The growing number of private livestock since Turkmenistan’s independence and the lack of property right mechanisms for managing them, has led to pressure to develop a law on pastures.
2. Response
Turkmenistan is a member to Rio Conventions: UNCCD, UNCBD, and UNFCC. A key element of Turkmenistan’s National Climate Change Strategy is legislative development. The EU regional project on Forest and Biodiversity Governance including Environmental Monitoring
(EU-FLERMONECA) implemented by GIZ supported the national partners and ministries in elaborating the new law on pastures in 2013-2015. A group of experts conducted field research using Participatory Rural Appraisal methods on five sites representing different ecological zones to identify the role and capacity of stakeholders in in pasture use and allocation. The findings of the field research were integrated into draft law in consultation with ministries responsible for agriculture, economy, finance and nature protection. The pasture law had to recognize the de facto status of the state enterprises as dispensers of pasture use rights, whilst including legal elements for common property management, taking into consideration regional and international experiences.
3. Evaluation
The Law on Pastures was adopted by the government of Turkmenistan in August 2015. The
Law includes provisions on pasture users and renters, on establishing Pasture Users
Associations, Commissions on Pasture Use Regulation and clauses promoting pasture access for all resident users, reciprocal pasture use between owners and the recognition of herding groups. The potential of these provisions to avoid problems of a first-come first-serve individualization of property rights and promote continued flexible access depend on how the law is implemented. This will first be explored through pilot projects and the elaboration of detailed bylaws.